Endless Winter
by Wocaine
Summary: The heat of the flame may temper the greatest of heroes, or break them. Peace, after all, is only an illusion and the greatest of losses can evoke the coldest of winters. [Warning: Do not read if you have not seen HTTYD2 as there will be numerous spoilers.]
1. This is Berk -- 10 Years Later

_This is Berk._

_It still snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three._

_It's still twelve days North of Hopeless and a few degrees South of Freezing to Death. _

_Yeah, we might sit squarely on the Meridian of Misery, but I think it's a matter of perspective._

_I wouldn't change a thing, because I'm happy here._

_I belong here._

_A lot has changed, though._

_First things first, I've married my soul mate-Astrid Hofferson._

_She is my everything; my rock, my best friend, and the mother of my children._

_That's right, children._

_Our son, little Stoick, just saw his ninth winter._

_Our daughter, Ingrid, well, she's only been around for a little while._

_I don't think we get a lot of sleep anymore, so I'm not really sure how long we've had her._

_Between parenting, chiefing, and, um, husbanding, I don't get as much free time as I used to._

_But, that's okay, because I was born for this, and my Dad knew it all along._

_He's been gone ten years now, but with his face in the mountain, it's like he still watches over Berk, you know?_

_There is this one thing that hasn't changed, and only gets better-_

_-we still have dragons!_


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**  
_It is the great north wind that made the Vikings - Norse Proverb_

Cool was the night air that had wrested the babe from her slumber, and fierce was the blow that usurped his. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III sat up abruptly, coughing and gasping, poised to flee from the yet unseen threat.

No, not a home invader-it was something even more threatening, Astrid.

"Oh!" he cried out in surprise, babbling. "What?! Why would you do that? What are you doing?!"

"Hiccup," Astrid seethed, the silver ribbons of light illuminating her fierce scowl, her fist at the ready should his exhausted haze remain, "the fire's out again."

A grunt was Hiccup's only rejoinder as he rubbed his eyes, exhausted.

Astrid, realizing that Hiccup had finally woken after the fourth attempt to rouse him, lowered her striking hand.

"You let the fire die again, Hiccup," she hissed, almost not heard at all , as the baby wailed helplessly in the wooden cradle at their bedside, "it's cold in here and Ingrid won't sleep."

"Come on, Astrid," Hiccup protested, feeling the weight of his exhaustion pull him back down into the bed, like an anchor into the icy waters, as he closed his eyes. "I don't even have my leg on, is it really that cold in here?"

Steam appeared with each breath as they sat in an uncomfortable silence, both taking exception to lngrid, who kept screaming for the better part of a minute. He opened one eye to see Astrid's expression calm while she smiled sweetly at him, her smile widening even more as she noticed his open eye. He then wondered if he maybe shouldn't have-

Astrid punched him, right in the stomach.

-done that.

White hot waves of pain surged through him, right to his toes as his eyes watered.

"Oh," he groaned weakly, sitting back up as the air left his lungs. "Point taken."

"Thanks, my love," she crooned in a silvery purr, kissing his cheek.

As Hiccup reached for his metal leg, he could hear Astrid scooping their daughter out of the cradle and humming softly to the baby, humming the only melody that seemed to calm Ingrid-his mother and father's courtship song. Hiccup smiled as he heard the baby's cries still before Astrid's hushed, yet loving voice.

"Nice one, Astrid," Hiccup laughed as he bent and fastened the detached leg into place.

He then turned to look at his wife, her flaxen hair and white nightgown catching the moon's light through the window, and the baby held to her breast for a nighttime feeding. Hiccup was struck by her beauty in this moment, and how such a formidable, and dangerous, woman could exude such a divine, maternal radiance. Everything about this, the lighting, Astrid's beauty, the way the baby nestled into her mother, he had to hold onto this-he had to sketch this while he still remembered it.

If only there were some way to capture moments like this in an instant.

A smile formed as his eyes narrowed, glittering with adoration. Astrid returned his affectionate gaze with a smile and whispered, "Go light the fire, Haddock."

Grinning ear to ear, Hiccup shook his head and then rose awkwardly from the bed, realizing he was still sleepy and thus unbalanced.

Clothes, he needed clothes.

Yesterday's tunic and trousers would suffice, Hiccup supposed, haphazardly pulling each over his body. Hiccup then staggered around the bedroom, his trousers snagging on the metal leg and Astrid laughing.

He ignored her and grumbled, shambling out of their bedchamber and into the main sitting area to look at the cold, empty hearth.

He sighed with resignation.

The fire was indeed out, and he forgot to bring wood in from the pile in the barn...again. He'd need to go fetch more, and risk waking the sleeping dragons.

The barn was an addition Hiccup built onto the chieftain's residence when most of Berk had to be rebuilt years ago. The structure leaned against the house and was large enough for both Toothless and Stormfly, as well her occasional brood, to sleep comfortably. With his ascension to chief, and his engagement to Astrid announced, Hiccup drew the plans for the barn and then recruited the help of his friends to build it. Considering that Snotlout and the twins had helped to construct the majority of it, Hiccup was pleasantly surprised by the end result, and even more so that it maintained a great deal of structural integrity ten years later.

Hiccup opened the front door, intent on quietly slipping outside, and kept his gaze on the iron handle, depressing the latch as he shut the door softly. He turned away, his mind elsewhere, and tripped over something after only a couple of paces in that direction.

Sprawled out on his stomach, the wet snow quickly soaking through his wool clothes, he pressed up from the ground and looked up to the moonlit sky to see a large black silhouette-reptilian and feline all at once-with a pair of large green eyes curiously staring down at him.

Toothless, the unholy offspring of lightning and death, tilted his head and then drew his lips back into a smile, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

Hiccup looked back at his feet, to see his metal leg tangled up in the saddle that Toothless had laid out and presented when he heard him coming out of the house. A lack of sleep getting the better of him, Hiccup hadn't noticed Toothless, or the saddle, and tripped.

"Aw, Toothless," Hiccup whined, untangling his leg from the saddle and standing up, "you could have killed me. Bad dragon."

Toothless straightened his expression, pulled his tongue back into his mouth, and rolled his eyes at Hiccup.

"Don't roll your eyes at me," Hiccup droned on in mock seriousness, putting his hands on his hips. "If you kill me, who would fly with you?"

Toothless narrowed his eyes and then moved his mouth silently in an attempt to imitate Hiccup's facial expression and manner of speaking. He quickly grew bored of that and turned his back to Hiccup, sweeping his tail at Hiccup's legs and knocking him to the ground again.

Hiccup grunted as he hit the soft slush, but that soon gave way to laughing as he rose to his feet and picked the saddle up from the ground.

"I'd love to fly, and it's a beautiful night," he confessed, gazing up at the stars. "It's just that I let the fire go out, and Astrid isn't too happy with me-the baby is crying a lot tonight."

Toothless turned around, facing Hiccup and casting an empathetic gaze at his human pet.

"Say," Hiccup began, his light green eyes coming alive with an idea, "could you help me start the-"

From inside the house, Ingrid's inconsolable screams, followed by Astrid's 'THOR DAMN IT, HICCUP! LIGHT THAT ODIN-FORSAKEN FIRE!', suddenly cut him off and Toothless crouched down, groaning and putting his front legs over his ear flaps as he tightly closed his eyes. When Ingrid stopped to catch her breath, Toothless uncovered his ears and darted into the darkness in a bid to escape.

"-fire," Hiccup sighed, helplessly watching Toothless disappear into the shadows. "Useless reptile."

"Well, Dad," conceded Hiccup, smiling as he looked over to the visage of Stoick the Vast in the mountainside, "looks like I'm about to do things the Viking way. I bet you'd be proud."

"Son," Hiccup playfully bantered to himself, in a Stoick-like brogue that would have done Gobber proud if he were awake to see it. "No chief of Berk should forget how to light a fire the old fashioned way. Use those dragons too much and you'll go soft."

The sting of tears that threatened to come forth were blinked away as quickly as they formed.

Hiccup missed him so much.

**End Chapter**


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

_Best it is for man's words to seek peace when it is possible - Norse Proverb_

Pink rays of first light crept through the panes of glass; gronkle vomit, as Hiccup liked to remind all the Berkians who fashioned their windows with this clear substance. Of course, he thought, with a slight smile, drawing and shading over the parchment with his charcoal, he was the one who refined the vomit and gleefully fitted each window in Berk. Interestingly enough, it seemed as though two panes, with a bit of air between them, helped the homes stay warmer in the winters.

Hiccup laid his charcoal down on the table as he remembered Tuffnut helping him with one of his first installations, right before little Stoick was born. Somehow, Snotlout was hit in the face with a hammer and the whole house fell down. Out of courtesy, Hiccup and Astrid had to put up that family for the week it took to rebuild their home-the home being finished just hours before Astrid going into labor. At least Tuffnut didn't break the window, Hiccup thought, pursing his lips and nodding as he picked up the charcoal in his left hand and resumed his eleventh sketch of Astrid.

The pitter patter up in the loft removed his attention from his present task, then a crash. His gaze fell on the ledge of the loft that overlooked the sitting area. A little tail, violet and scaly, hung over the ledge until a small white hand carefully grabbed the tail and pulled it up, out of sight.

When did Stoick get Stormwing out of the barn?

Hiccup massaged his temples with his right hand and sighed-Astrid was not going to be happy that Stoick brought his baby nadder into the house again.

Another crash , followed by a harsh whisper, came from upstairs, "Stormwing, be quiet!"

Hiccup fidgeted with his charcoal and said nothing.

"No! Not my clothes!"

Maybe Astrid didn't need to know.

Placing a piece of blank parchment before him, Hiccup began to sketch the baby nadder. Stormwing, the latest of Stormfly's progeny, was the only one out of the brood that Hiccup and Astrid kept. Originally, they hadn't planned on keeping any of the hatchlings, but Stoick was very persuasive and insistent on keeping the dragon. It also didn't hurt that Stormwing came home to Stoick no matter where they sent him. Ever since Hiccup and Astrid agreed to keep the baby nadder, the two were inseparable...to Astrid's dismay.

Hiccup cringed as he heard the loudest crash yet. It appeared that the 'no dragons in the house' rule wasn't holding up so well.

He paused, holding his right index finger up in the air-waiting. Half a minute passed, and silence. Miraculously, neither mother nor daughter had awoken. With a satisfied nod, Hiccup returned to his drawings.

After half an hour, with no further ruckus from Stoick and Stormwing, the day had arrived and the morning light was now casting the seating area in a golden glow. Hiccup neatly stacked the drawings on the table and had since been out to one of the henhouses, returning with enough eggs to feed the whole Haddock clan. He was up before Astrid and it was the perfect opportunity to be 'helpful' and cook breakfast, therefore avoiding her cooking for at least one meal.

Though not a strong cook, Astrid always tried her best, and her food was, he paused for the right word while stirring in a wooden bowl-survivable. However, her breakfasts were her worst meals and sometimes rivaled her infamous yaknog that was brought out every Snoggletog. Just like her yaknog, she dared people to dislike her breakfasts and it never happened. Hiccup shuddered, remembering the first time that foul, fermented, festering substance...oh, and it was right in his mouth, too. Hiccup repressed the memory, closing his eyes. He wasn't known for being a fussy eater. For Thor's sake, there was a time when he ate and swallowed a regurgitated fish when he was just getting to know Toothless, when they were bonding, but that yaknog? He dared not ever swallow it for fear of the agonizing death, or, more plausible, painful day in the outhouse that would await him. Nope, breakfast would be his victory today.

Standing at the fire pit, Hiccup held the skillet over a customized grill that he built and mounted to rest over the open flame. The melted butter and chopped onions sizzled, as the onions browned ever so slightly with a lovely and novel aroma. Hiccup was always curious about the science of cooking and often experimented with food when it was abundant. Today, he beat the eggs in a bowl and added just enough yak's milk to change the consistency. Like a giddy child, he was excited to see what would happen next. Hiccup poured the mixture into the hot skillet, smiling as the eggs and milk did exactly as he predicted. When the combination began to thicken, Hiccup took the wooden spoon he began with and used it to scramble the concoction. He made note to fashion a more square-like, scraping utensil in the future, to get underneath the eggs, as he carried on and sprinkled bits of cheese into the skillet.

Losing himself in the act of cooking, Hiccup hadn't noticed that Astrid had come out of the bedchamber until she embraced him from behind and rested her head against his shoulders.

"Milady," Hiccup crooned, smirking as he fussed over the eggs.

"Thank you for making the house warm again," Astrid said finally, her tone grateful and her words soft. "I had a little bit of sleep and I'm so happy."

"Excellent," Hiccup rejoiced, a full smile forming.

"You didn't need to cook breakfast," Astrid added, squeezing him tighter, "I could've done that."

"No trouble at all," he lied, turning and kissing her on the lips.

When they parted, her eyes shone with the love she felt for him.

"Why didn't you come back to bed?" she asked him, resting her head on his chest.

"I was attacked by a night fury and couldn't sleep anyway," Hiccup jested as his reply.

"A dragon too mighty for the conqueror of dragons?" Astrid asked with a giggle as she broke away and took her seat at the table, collecting two wooden plates along the way.

"Indeed," replied Hiccup, setting the skillet down at the middle of the table and taking a seat across from her. Hiccup then flared his hands out flamboyantly. "He had the element of surprise and I fell into his nefarious trap."

He closed his hands into fists.

"Oh," Astrid teased, in mock consolation, as she scooped a helping of the eggs onto a plate and handed it to Hiccup. "And what kind of trap did my mighty husband fall prey to?"

"A saddle," said Hiccup, matter of fact, as he took the first bite of what he would call scrambled eggs.

"A saddle," Astrid repeated, stifling a laugh.

She took a bite of the scrambled eggs and cooed happily. "Thor Almighty, this is so good."

They both ate and savored their meal in the rare silence they had, leaving enough for Stoick to eat later. Hiccup always had an inkling that Astrid wasn't too fond of her cooking either. Yet, stubborn like no other, Astrid always strove to be the best warrior, best dragon rider, best mother, and best wife-her domestic duties were as serious to her as dragon maneuvers or combat training.

"What are you going to call this one?" she asked, feigning interest and breaking the silence as she leafed through his pile of drawings.

"I'm going to call it scramb-"

"Oh, it's Stormwing. He's growing so fast," Astrid thought aloud, interrupting him, while smiling at the picture of the dragon, but she then became more somber as she gazed at her own likenesses-perusing all eleven of them. "Hiccup."

Unsure of her change in countenance, Hiccup nervously scratched at his neatly groomed beard. "Yes?"

"Are these the right proportions?" Astrid asked, intensely fixing her gaze on him, searching his face for the answer.

"I don't-" he picked up and rolled his charcoal pencil between his thumbs and index fingers as he held it out in front of him, averting her gaze. "Why? Why are you asking?"

Hiccup couldn't hide the flush when he realized, in hindsight, that some of the drawings, the ones without Ingrid in them, were perhaps risqué and meant to be thrown away, or hidden.

"Is this really what I look like?" Astrid rephrased, laying the parchments on the table and sharpening her tone. "Or are you being," she paused, gaze moving toward the more racy sketches, "creative."

The pencil snapped and his eyes were wide. Thor help him, those were her proportions.

Astrid fumed, glaring at him. "Really, Hiccup?"

"Well-well," he hesitated as he tossed the broken pencil halves aside, "there's nothing wrong with the way you look, and I really don't mind it. No, well, I mean-I like it. I, uh," he blushed, looking down at the table, "really do like it."

"I can tell," scoffed Astrid, holding up the more enticing rendition of her and her slightly larger hips and breasts since her recent childbirth.

"Oh, gods," Hiccup murmured, "this is actually happening."

"I am a warrior, Hiccup," Astrid hissed, her body rigid as she seemed poised to lunge over the table at him.

"Yes," agreed Hiccup, his head nodding and his hands raised, "you are very aggressive and-"

"I am Astrid 'The Fearless' Haddock," she continued, words pushing through her teeth.

"Yes, fearless," he stammered, "so not like me right now."

"And I don't appreciate my husband thinking that I've gone soft."

"I, uh, don't think that's really the case," Hiccup chuckled, nervously, scratching the back of his head, "you definitely didn't go soft."

He shook his head. "Nope, not soft."

"Then," Astrid growled, her voice becoming gravelly in her anger, gesturing at the drawings, "what is this?"

"It-uh-it-uh," Hiccup stuttered, his throat dry and palms sweaty, "it's you. It's you and you're more beautiful, just as dangerous, and still very, very violent."

Astrid's face contorted and she began to sob, burying her face into her hands. Hiccup froze, not knowing what to do. Not knowing if he should hold her, or talk to her, or beg for forgiveness-not when he couldn't seem to say the right thing. So, he just froze-eyes wide-like he had been covered in the mist of the Flightmare.

"I," sobbed Astrid, "I don't really care, but I can't help but feeling all of these," her voice broke, "feelings."

"But-"

"Shut up, Haddock," she barked, "I barely slept in a week. I can't train. I'm going soft. I feel weak. I haven't gone flying with Stormfly in a month. My breasts are huge. My hips are never going to shrink."

"But-"

"I will kill you if you interrupt me again," Astrid threatened, wiping her tears away. "My clothes don't fit anymore. I can't make new clothes because I can hardly put Ingrid down. This isn't the same, it was so different with Stoick."

"Well, you are thirty now," Hiccup offered, helpfully. "We were barely twenty one when we had Stoick."

Astrid's glare burned into him and she said nothing, she didn't need too. Hiccup realized that he had put his foot in his mouth, the metal one, and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

"I just mean that your body changed, only a little, and you look better," insisted Hiccup, his voice uneven and unsure. "Your hips have to open up to let the baby out, and your breasts nourish the baby-of course they're going to grow a bit. They sometimes go back, but, uh, the hips not so much and that's okay. You're not soft, you're just out of practice, that's all."

"Hiccup," Astrid seethed, her hands over each fist while cracking her knuckles, "stop talking."

"Okay," Hiccup sighed, realizing that he had dug himself a deep hole.

"No more children," said Astrid, simply. "It does," she gestured to herself with both hands, "this."

Hiccup wondered if there were a way he could escape. He could run to the door, it was at his back. She could run faster, but he'd have the head start. He could jump on Toothless and-oh, the saddle needed to be strapped on. No, she'd catch up and pummel him for sure. Escape was not an option.

"You," Astrid continued, her voice low, "you did this to me."

"Okay, okay," Hiccup replied, raising his hands, "two children is fine."

"Alright," Astrid began, her voice leveling as she rose from the table, her tone now fierce and icy, "but you do remember how children are made, Haddock."

And, with that, she stormed from the seating area and back into the bedchamber, slamming the door and waking the baby.

"Of course I remember," Hiccup called out after her-indignant-until his jaw went slack and his eyes went wide with the realization-his hands slapped down on the table. "Oh, my gods."

**End Chapter**


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